Monday, 31 March 2014

Saturday 29 March 2014

Now definitely heading east, despite it being a twisty turny uppy downy road along the coast we decided to stick to the N634 as the motorway becomes toll for part of the way to San Sebastion, or to give it it’s Basque name, Donostia. However the effort was worth it as the Cantabria coast is wonderfully scenic with lots of little coastal villages with sandy beaches.




















 We’re into Basque country today as indicated by the signposts all being in dual languages and it’s certainly unusual – you can normally deduce Spanish but Basque is a mystery; we could not even pronounce a lot of it!

The weather started bright and sunny but as we approached Bilbao it went cloudy and got very windy too. Despite our intentions, the road started to get silly so we jumped up on the motorway for a short while until we were clear. Though it’s nice to travel through the towns, it’s just a waste of time – and fuel – battling through the crowded streets.

Lunch in a supermarket car-park then onward to San Sebastion. As we would shortly be crossing into France we decided to top up the fuel tank, hopefully a bit cheaper than in France, and refill the gas bottles and we found a garage in San Sebastion to do both. It was now late afternoon so the aire we used here last year became our target for a night-stop – but unfortunately it was absolutely full, all French, so an alternative was needed. Consulting the book, there was a small 2-place aire in a natural park in the hills behind the town so we headed there.

Our luck was in, although there were quite a few locals enjoying a day in the country, the motorhome spaces were empty so we settled in. Gradually everybody went home and as I write we’re now on our own. There is a hotel about 300 metres away and we’re actually on a road so we feel ok about it. We will, however, take extra security measures tonight!


With no light pollution and a clear sky, there are a lot of stars to be seen.

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